Table 1.

Core ingredients (“Principles”) of rationality commonly identified across theoretical models

P1: Most major theories of choice agree that rational decision‐making requires integrations of

Benefits (gains)

Harms (losses)

in order to fulfil our goals (eg, better health).

P2: It typically occurs under conditions of uncertainty.

Rational approach requires reliable evidence to deal with the inherent uncertainties.

Relies on cognitive processes that allow integration of probabilities/uncertainties.

P3: Rational thinking should be informed by human cognitive architecture.

composed of type 1 reasoning processes, which characterizes “old mind” (affect‐based, intuitive, fast, resource‐frugal) and type 2 processes (analytic and deliberative, consequential driven, and effortful) of “new mind”

P4: Rationality depends on the context and should respect epistemological, environmental, and computational constraints of human brains

P5: Rationality (in medicine) is closely linked to ethics and morality of our actions

requires consideration of utilitarian (society‐oriented), duty‐bound (individual‐oriented), and right‐based (autonomy, “no decision about me, without me”) ethics

Text in bold identifies core ingredients of rationality.